The present invention is directed to connecting lengths of well coil tubing or connecting well tools to coiled tubing.
Coiled tubing is a continuous conduit without joints used in an oil and/or gas well carried on a reel at the well surface. The coiled tubing can be lowered into an oil and/or gas well and is of a small diameter, such as one to two inches. Coiled tubing may be used for injecting well fluids into well tubing, sand washing, removal of liquids from the wells, producing wells through the tubing, or for installing and operating a variety of well accessories, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,166.
Interconnection of the coiled tubing with other lengths of coiled tubing and well tools has been accomplished in the past, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,657, by providing a connector gripping the exterior of the coiled tubing. However, such connectors inherently provide an outside diameter which is greater than the outside diameter of the coiled tubing. This provides difficulty in allowing the coiled tubing and connector to sealingly pass through pack-offs and other well control equipment and pass freely through the coiled tubing injector chains, around goosenecks, and onto the coiled tubing spool as the coiled tubing is inserted and removed from a well conduit.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus which internally grips and connects to the coiled tubing and avoids the disadvantages of the prior art connectors by being spoolable, will sealably pass through pack-offs, and has an outer body sized no greater than the outside diameter of the coiled tubing.